6 Slack alternatives worth a look

There’s nothing wrong with using Slack — its three million active daily users can’t all be wrong. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t another option out there that might better meet your particular needs.

Once upon a time if you wanted employees to collaborate you'd probably encourage them to use Internet Relay Chat (IRC). But about three years ago Slack appeared on the scene, and since then it's been eating IRC's lunch. That's because it's much easier to install, get up and running, and use than IRC, making it massively popular with nontechies. And thanks to a well-documented API it's easy to integrate with other programs and services. That means it's customizable and infinitely extensible, which makes it popular with developers.

But, ultimately, Slack is just a group communication tool, albeit a very nice one. And there are plenty of alternatives.

One concern about Slack for many organizations is that Slack Technologies, the company behind the product, is a relatively new one with a product that is growing explosively. That kind of growth can be tricky to manage and attracts interest from companies on the acquisition trail. Slack is also cloud-based, which raises questions about availability as well as the privacy and security of your data.